Naked Heart

by Harold Pagliaro

This is a powerful statement about the dark and vainglorious side of combat as experienced in World War II by a young private, Harold Pagliaro. His true story is a gripping, authentic account of men's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0943549418
• ISBN13: 9780943549415
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Truman State University Press
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Chilling and captivating

I've read many World War II memoirs, and this is one of the best. Few veterans express the terror, dread, and danger of combat as well as Prof. Pagliaro. He faced a difficult situation and handled himself admirably. I recommend this book to everyone. It is on a level with other great World War II classics such as "Those Devils in Baggy Pants", "If You Survive", and "The Other Side of Time." Very moving to read.

Outstanding--a one of a kind book.

I had the opportunity to read a pre-publication draft of this engaging book. When it appeared in print I was delighted to see that the publisher had produced such a handsome volume--in both paperback and hardcover. I immediately placed "Naked Heart" on the reading list for my U.S. History class at Drake University, and in many years of teaching I have never had a book received and reviewed so favorably. It provoked interesting class discussions and prompted many students to visit with their grandparents about World War II experiences. A number of students purchased extra copies to give to members of their families. It is hard to imagine a book that matches this one in cross-generational appeal.

An excellent narrative of one man's combat experiences

"Saving Private Ryan" will undoubtedly generate reader interest in books about WWII and the individual experiences of combat soldiers. The most dramatic lines in this movie came when actor Tom Hanks says in effect: "I don't know if I can ever tell my wife about today or what I've seen." This struck a chord with me because my father was a WWI combat veteran of the European Theater, but he would never talk about his combat experiences. So prior to the release of "Private Ryan" I had read many books about the individual experiences of combat veterans trying to understand why combat had affected them so.I recommend Naked Heart above many other excellent books about WWII held in high esteem by professional historians, who prefer to use a broad brush to paint the picture of the stories they tell. Naked Heart is the story of the military service of Harold Pagliaro, retired Professor of English Literature at Swarthmore College, Pa. The story begins with his induction into the Army, ASTP and Infantry training and transfer to a Cavalry unit prior to shipping out. His service in combat takes place in France, and ends in Alsace when he is seriously wounded.It is the story of only one man but the same reveals the shared experience of thousands like him who faced all the fear, misery, uncertainty,and horrors that combat has to offer. The language, details, and writing style are clear, vivid, and straight-forward. The reader will have little difficulty envisioning or understanding what he is reading.A medium like any movie as well done as "Private Ryan" is very visually graphic as well as audibly compelling with all the theatrical flair of the actors, the script, the special effects, sound effects, and background music to fill the viewer's senses. A book lacks most of these, but a book as well written as Naked Heart tells a story in a very personal way, much like a father might relate his wartime experiences to his son. I recommend Naked Heart for anyone interested in trying to understand the psyche of our WWII combat veterans.John R. Walker

An excellent description of combat experiences and feelings.

While I served in the European Theater during World War II, Professor Pagliaro's experiences and mine were significantly different. He served as a replacement, while I joined my armored field artilelry battalion before the unit went overseas. Infantry and cavalry performed the most difficult and dangerous tasks in combat and replacements served even more difficult roles in these units.I found this book to be an excellent description of Pagliaro's combat experiences and also an excellent espression of his feelings and reactions to some very difficult combat assignments as well as difficult miltiary leaders. Pagliaro suffered problems similar to many ASTP students, but many of these persons failed to survive their assignments in the infantry and cavalry and few have expressed their feelings so adequately.I highly recommend this book not only for veterans of World War II, but for all who wish to learn more about the role fo the "little people" in that conflict.

A moving and subtle memoir of a young WWII soldier

NAKED HEART: A SOLDIER"S JOURNEY TO THE FRONT by Harold Pagliaro--Reviewed >>>by Thomas H. Blackburn, Centennial Professor of English Literature, >>>Swarthmore College. >>> >>> On November 1943, Harold Pagliaro, in his first year as an engineering >>>student at Columbia, began his journey to the front lines in France. NAKED >>>HEART, his memoir of this formative experience, rich in remembered detail >>>and in emotion recalled with the clarity of mature hindsight, captures the >>>deep ambiguity of the thoughts and feelings of a sensitive and >>>introspective, yet tough and resourceful, youth. >>> The draft pulled Pagliaro from a close family, and from an especially >>>close relationship with his slightly younger brother, Robert. Many of his >>>anxieties about Army service are heightened by his concern that Robert may >>>be soon be subjected to the same risks. Missing his family and Robert as >>>confidant becomes a major part of the radical aloneness Pagliaro >>>experiences in a training system and then in a battlefield posting that >>>never made it possible for him to form a new intimacy with either young >>>draftees in basic or more veteran comrades overseas. Pagliaro's strongest >>>negative reactions recall the destruction of the individual privacy of an >>>enlisted man, and the sense of absolute subjection to an often irrational >>>and callous authority that could send a man into mortal danger without >>>doubt or explanation. >>> Balancing this critique of military reality is Pagliaro's pride in >>>meeting the physical demands of basic training and in mastering the >>>military skills needed to earn the Expert Infantryman's Badge. Genuine >>>delight in the lively power of a fit body, in appetite satisfied by good >>>food, and in endurance in the face of nearly impossible tasks are as much a >>>part of Pagliaro's Army life as his uneasy relation to authority. >>> In the autumn of 1944, Pagliaro found himself on the MAURETANIA, bound >>>for England and then for France as solo replacement for a cavalry division >>>decimated by the post D-Day battles across France. His narrative of the >>>weeks he spent on the lines before a serious leg wound, received in a >>>futile attack on an inconsequential Vosges town, Erckartswiller, sent him >>>on his journey back home, claims no overt heroics. It is a straightforward >>>account of his deep terror of artillery fire and of senseless slaughter and >>>frantic movement,--all conveyed with the concrete immediacy of the sounds, >>>the shapes, and even the taste of battle places and battle fears. A deep >>>sense for survival, impelled by a love of life as essential religion, vies >>>with the momentum of battle and the inevitable authority of command. As >>>Pagliaro runs forward through impeding woods on the third unsuccessful >>>attack against Erckartswiller, shell fragments tear his right calf almost >>>in two and send him from the front the hard way.